


Floral Expression 01 - Acacia Blossom

by Thirivm



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Longing, M/M, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 01:27:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20667032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thirivm/pseuds/Thirivm
Summary: Prompt: Acacia Blossom– Concealed LoveIt's been over six years since he last saw your smile. Six long years since the two of you had even been in the same room together, and maybe most people didn’t change too much in such a seemingly short amount of time, but Jack wonders if you would even recognize him if he took off his mask right now.





	Floral Expression 01 - Acacia Blossom

**Author's Note:**

> First in a series of Overwatch/Reader inserts, based on a flower prompt list I found on Tumblr! Most of them will be gender-neutral, but Jack will be male reader only!

* * *

  
You were still just as handsome as you’d been the last time Jack saw you.

It's been over six years since he last saw your smile. Six long years since the two of you had even been in the same room together, and maybe most people didn’t change too much in such a seemingly short amount of time, at least not in the physical sense, but Jack wonders if you would even recognize him if he took off his mask right now.

His SEP treatments had allowed him to maintain most of his strength and speed from back then, but that still didn’t make him physically immortal. These days, he often woke up to old battle wounds beginning to ache again, and though he could hide it well enough in a fire fight, he couldn’t swing his pulse rifle around quite as effortlessly as he once did. He’d also finally lost the last lingering traces of blonde in his hair that he’d still had since you’d seen him, and of course there were the twin scars carved across his face now, marring his already aged and grizzled features.

You, on the other hand, had hardly seemed to have changed at all, and he could probably attribute most of that to your young age – or at least, young compared to someone like him. Your hair was a little longer, facial features a little smoother but in a mature, attractive sense. Your smile, your laugh, even the way you carried yourself as you walked around the medical bay was all the same.

It throws Jack back to simpler times, back to the days where he often sought out your company between tough missions, fumbling through some excuse or another each time he stepped into your office, and he was never sure if you genuinely believed the reasons for his frequent visits or if you were just humoring him because you enjoyed his company so much.

A part of him longed for it to be the latter. The rest of him cursed his cowardice for never telling you how he’d grown to feel about you.

You had been his beacon in a growing darkness. Things crumbled with Vincent, things crumbled with Gabe, and then Overwatch itself physically crumbled around him, and throughout it all Jack could remember you being one of the few constants in his life. It seemed like you were always there, always ready and waiting to talk with him when he needed it.

You never threw his doubts or mistakes back in his face, like so many others did. Instead, you praised him where you could, reassured him when you couldn’t, or just listened to him vent out his emotions even if you were powerless to ease the growing weight on his shoulders.

To this day he doubts that you knew just how much those conversations really helped him, and in exchange, he tried to be there for you when he could.

Jack remembers the late night visits to your lab when you’d work late, talking about everything and nothing as you kept yourself awake with caffeine and bouts of laughter whenever Jack would tell a joke. Trying to get you to turn in at a reasonable hour was a lost cause, he’d learned early on. You were as much a workaholic back then as Dr. Ziegler was, and he supposed the least he could do in return for you saving lives every day was watching over you every night.

“You’re going to give yourself gray hairs stressing over me like this!” you’d playfully remarked one night. Jack can’t recall what he’d said to you in response but he does remember the way that you’d smiled at him, the way you’d touch his shoulder and thanked him for the company before finally going to bed in the early hours of the morning, and part of him swears that he could still feel your warm touch against him. Countless nights he’d had countless opportunities, and Jack often wonders what things could have been like for him today if he’d just opened his damn mouth one of those nights and told you that he was falling in love with you.

Well.. He’d never know now. As far as you knew, Strike Commander Jack Morrison was dead and gone, and when he steps into the crude medic bay to discover that you were one of the many agents who’d answered Winston's call, it takes everything he has not to rip that mask off and show you that he was still alive. He wants to say that he was sorry for everything that has happened, both to Overwatch and to your relationship, and wants to tell you that you were the only man he’d felt such a deep love for in almost a decade.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, he just gives you a curt nod of greeting as you approach him, jaw clenched so tightly behind his mask that it almost aches, and he suddenly feels that old flutter coming back as you introduce yourself. You’d be serving as the primary doctor whenever Dr. Ziegler was out on the field, you tell him, but ironically, Jack is so focused on hearing your voice again that he misses most of what you say. For a moment he loses himself to the sound that he'd once cherished so much, takes in the warmth of your eyes, and it’s only when he notices that familiar furrow in your brow that he realizes you’d been talking to him.

“I..” He starts to say as you stare at him, a hint of concern behind the curiosity in your eyes, but then Jack just waves a dismissive hand at you. “Sorry. Just lost in thought.”

“I see,” you reply, not seeming completely convinced but then you drop your gaze down to the data pad in your hand and Jack's shoulders loosen just a little. “Well… Soldier 76, I’m still waiting for Winston to send the results of your physical over, but be sure to keep me updated after every mission, even when you’re under Dr. Ziegler’s care. She still has a bad habit of taking on too many patients at once."

‘Hypocrite,’ Jack almost teases, wanting to see that old, playful roll of your eyes once more, but instead just nods again. He needs to keep this visit short despite how much he might want otherwise; every second spent with you only furthered the risk of you learning his real identity. “Right..” is all he says.

“You’ve been cleared by Dr. Ziegler for this evening’s mission, but is there anything you want to bring to my attention now?” you ask, eyes still on your data pad.

‘I'm still in love with you.’ he wants to say, and his chest aches just thinking about those words.

“Nothing to report, doc.” is what comes out instead, and Jack barely gives you time to respond before he turns on his heel and strides out of the room, and it takes everything he has not to look back when he feels your eyes still on him.

It's one of the hardest things he's done in years, and he knows in his heart that it will only get harder from here.

* * *


End file.
